Games Wednesday:
(Filoil EcoOil Centre)
12 p.m. — EAC vs Letran
3 p.m. — San Beda vs Perpetual
Lyceum of the Philippines University survived a late-game scare from Arellano University to pull off an 82-80 victory in Season 98 National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament on Tuesday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
Patrick Montaño led the charge with 16 points while John Barba dropped 15 markers for the Chiefs, who hung tough down the stretch to seal their seventh victory in nine outings.
Holding an 81-75 lead with 48.6 seconds left, Shane Menina knocked down a three-pointer to cut the lead to three, 81-78.
But his potential game-tying shot in the final 11 seconds rolled off the cylinder before Renzo Navarro split his charities for an 82-78 lead to secure the win.
Although John Abastillas connected a buzzer-beating jumper, it was already late as the Chiefs were on their way to suffer their fifth loss in nine matches.
Lyceum head coach Gilbert Malabanan said he was proud of how the boys handled the pressure but stressed that he doesn’t want them to relax despite a good standing in the first round.
“It’s a good that we are given these kinds of games early. You don’t know who the best player will be this time. Our scoring is equally spread in the game,” Malabanan said.
“We’re going to watch our games and see how we won and lost our matches. We can’t just coach on the game itself and we have to review our system.”
Aside from Montaño and Barba, Mac Guadaña scored 14 points on a 6-of-9 shooting clip.
Axel Doromal scored 21 points, two rebounds and two assists for the Chiefs.
The scores:
LYCEUM (82) – Montaño 16, Barba 15, Guadaña 14, Valdez 9, Umali 7, Bravo 7, Larupay 6, Peñafiel 4, Cunanan 3, Navarro 1, Villegas 0.
ARELLANO (80) – Doromal 21, Menina 14, Abastillas 12, Flores 11, Oftana 8, Mantua 8, Tolentino 4, Mallari 2, Oliva 0, Antonio 0.
QUARTERS: 22-19, 44-42, 70-58, 82-80.
